About Time

Chapter Twenty Seven - Poppy

Of course she'd be there when the jet landed. Wearing less clothing than a hooker.
"Hi, Cal. Long time no see."
"Poppy."
"What? Didn't you miss me?"
"No, not particularly."
"Ouch."
"Poppy, you do realize you're a suspect, right?"
"If I'm a suspect, so is Amadeo because he's in town too."
"Why?"
"Ellis called us the night before he disappeared and said he wanted to talk to us."
"Did he say about what?"
"Nope."
"Great. Well, it's been lovely catching up, but I'm going to my hotel room now."

Of course he'd be put in the room right next to hers. The universe hated him today.
"Looks like we aren't finished chatting after all."
"Poppy, go away." Cal groaned. They were standing in the hallway outside of their rooms. She'd cornered him before he could go inside.
His phone rang and Cal swore he'd give fifty dollars to whoever it was.
It was Gillian.
"Hi, love."
"Hey.
"What's up?"
"I was just calling to make sure your flight was okay."
"It was fine. I've already met an old friend."
Cal struggled with the last two words. Poppy wasn't even his friend. What she was was a mistake that definitely never should've happened. But Cal of course had had to play roulette when he was here two years ago.
"Who?"
"Poppy."
"Oh, tell her I said I hi."
"I will."
"I have to go. A woman just walked in here claiming to be psychic. And we know what happened last time."
"She wasn't psychic, she had multiple personality disorder."
"Right. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye, love."
He hung up the phone.
"You remember my partner, Gillian, right?"
"The pretty brunette?"
"That's the one. She says hi. She also said to tell you that if you try anything funny that she would personally come hurt you."
That last part was a lie but Poppy didn't know that. Maybe it would keep her away.
"Jealous over a man she doesn't even have?"
"Actually, she's got me wrapped tight around her little finger. And she's pregnant, so I'd watch it if I were you."

Gillian hung up the phone. She didn't like the idea of Cal being alone with Poppy. She knew that he would never sleep with another woman. He wouldn't do that to her. He wasn't that kind of man. But...it was Vegas. Vegas always brought out the worst in Cal. And he might not sleep with her, but he might...No. Gillian wasn't going to go there. She trusted Cal...But she didn't trust Poppy. She pulled out her phone.

"Poppy, why the bloody hell do you keep following me?"
"We're going to the same place, Cal. I'm not following you."
They were headed to Ellis' last known location. The room where the Poker World Championships were held every year.
It looked almost exactly the same as it had the last time he'd been here. Except the countdown clock wasn't turned on, the Championships were still two months away.
The FBI had even set up shop on the same side of the room. Amadeo was sitting in his old spot at the table.
"Dr. Lightman. Never thought I'd see you again." He said and stood and offered his hand.
"I could say the same to you."
"Where is the beautiful Ms. Foster?"
"Still in D.C. She's not allowed to fly."
"It's a shame. When I heard you were here, I was looking forward to seeing her."
"I'll pass it on."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Foster but all flights from D.C. to Vegas are booked until ten tonight."
Gillian sighed. This was the third airline she'd tried. But it was the earliest flight.
"I'll take it."
She'd already called Dr. Ryan and gotten the okay to fly to Vegas. He'd said okay on the condition that as soon as she returned to Washington that she'd make an appointment.
She knew Ria and Eli could handle any new cases. The woman that was supposedly psychic was just an escaped patient from a nearby psychiatric hospital. Something Gillian had quickly figured out.
She told her employees not to burn down the office and went home to pack. Anna was going to pick Sophie up from daycare and keep her while Gillian was gone. She wished she could bring her daughter with her but Vegas wasn't exactly the place to bring a toddler.

Cal was digging in Ellis' office that afternoon. There were poker chips and empty liquor bottles and chip bags all over the place. But what Cal found intriguing were the stacks of unpaid bills and the foreclosure notice. Ellis was loaded, he shouldn't have unpaid bills.
Cal kept digging until he found a black leather notebook in a secret compartment he'd accidentally opened under the desk.
He opened it and found what looked like deduction after deduction from a very large amount of money. If Ellis had managed to get into debt, he still owed whoever it was nearly five billion dollars. No wonder the bills were going unpaid.
"Oi, Ben! Found something!"

"Flight 068 to Las Vegas is now boarding."
Finally. Gillian had been here for two hours and she was about to fall asleep.
She got her purse and went through the metal detector and to the gate. The agent took her boarding pass and she was waved through.
After finding her seat, she sat down and immediately got comfortable. The flight was nearly five hours. She was going to sleep.

"Lightman!"
Cal didn't have to turn around to know that it was Reynolds calling his name.
"What?" He was getting ready to head to his room. It had been a long day and it was nearly eleven-thirty.
"We just got a call on the tip line. You need to hear this."
Cal walked over to the table. Ben motioned for the tech to press play.
"It's been a week, he doesn't have long left. I haven't decided how long exactly but probably less than a day. Depends on when I get hungry." Click.
"What the bloody hell was that?"
"I don't know but if I had to guess, I'd say your friend Ellis owed money to the wrong cannibal."